Domestic incident involving Kissimmee commissioner closed after police inquiry

Police followed all domestic-violence protocols to investigate a disturbance a week ago between city Commissioner Art Otero and his wife, according to Kissimmee police Chief Lee Massie.

After drinking and leaving a downtown bar in the early hours of Nov. 14, the couple argued, and Annabel Otero later showed up at the police station with a golf-ballsized bruise on her forehead, records show.

“The Kissimmee Police Department has reviewed the incident involving Commissioner Otero and all protocol was followed,” Massie said Tuesday. “And the incident is closed without an arrest.”

Before closing the investigation, police officers questioned the Oteros separately, and each declined to provide a written statement about what happened. Each also declined to speak later with the department’s victim advocate, said Massie.

About 1:30 a.m. Nov. 14, Otero had flagged down a Kissimmee police supervisor and asked for help finding his wife following an argument after they left the bar.

A short while later they found Annabel Otero at the police station, where she works as a clerical employee. Police described the Oteros as intoxicated.

She did not want to speak to her husband but later told police they had argued about her dancing with a man who was a family friend, records show.

“I told her that having an argument is normal and not illegal but her injuries were suspicious to me so I had more questions as to the nature of the lump on her forehead,” Lt. Jaime Alberti wrote in a report. “At this point, I felt that I might be dealing with a domestic violence situation so I wanted to have another officer and supervisor present as this is standard practice for this type of call.”

After summoning another supervisor, Alberti wrote that Otero entered a room where Annabel Otero was holding an ice pack to her forehead and began ordering her to leave with him.

Concerned that Annabel Otero might be afraid to leave with her husband, Alberti wrote that he told Otero to wait in another room. That’s when the city commissioner began accusing him of mishandling the incident, Alberti wrote.

“I am trying to run for mayor and this is going to ruin my campaign,” Alberti quoted Otero as saying in a loud voice about the 2016 nonpartisan race. “Do you know what this is going to do to me?”

Later in the interviews, Annabel Otero would not say what happened but eventually told officers her husband had not hit her. She then declined to say whether she was afraid to go home with him, records state.

Otero continued talking about his political campaign.

“You know I sign your paychecks and I am also a strong supporter of the police department,” Otero said, records show. “I don’t understand why you are putting me through all of this and making a big deal when nothing happened.”

The commissioner subsequently told officers he slowed down the car during the argument with his wife when she tried to get out of the passenger door.

“He was attempting to grab her so she wouldn’t jump out ... and she was pushing him away in order to get out,” records state.

Alberti and other officers then briefed patrol Capt. John Lewis, who then questioned the couple individually before calling his superiors.

hcurtis@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5257